Flooding Became Catalyst For Better Plans, Coordination Idaho’s Emergency Council Rejuvenated After $49 Million Disaster

Snow is piling up again on the hillsides above North Idaho streams that swelled into the Panhandle’s worst flood in decades last February.

But state and local emergency response coordinators who struggled to marshal resources during that $49 million disaster feel a lot better now as they watch the new snow falling.

While they were widely praised for their work last winter - there were no deaths and relief generally came quickly - the flooding also revealed some problems in how Idaho copes with emergencies. Improved communication, new procedures and upgraded training since then already are paying off in more effective disaster response.

“The state, through the flood experience, realized there are key state agencies that just really didn’t get involved. Either they were never asked to or just didn’t feel they had a role to play,” said Bill Schwartz, Kootenai County’s disaster services director. “The floods in February identified that almost every state agency clearly has a role to play.”

The 14 straight days that Kootenai County’s emergency operations center was manned was the longest ever. Schwartz found out volunteers who usually augment the small full-time staff were not enough. To prepare for next time, “we have brought in a multitude of county employees and trained them, including department heads.”

The rejuvenated State Agency Emergency Coordinating Council, which includes representatives from each state agency, conducts monthly planning sessions and helps run the state emergency operations center during a disaster.

“This was on line before, but participation on it was hard to come by,” said Darren Blagburn of the state Bureau of Disaster Services. “During the flooding, Governor Batt saw the need for it and asked his directors to ensure they were more cooperative.”

Key personnel are updated monthly on each agency’s resources, from vehicles to communications equipment to manpower, where they are located and whom to contact in an emergency.

Lines of communication between state and county officials have replaced longstanding barriers that thwarted cooperation.

“We have a relationship now that will ensure that when the state’s involvement is required, they will call us,” Blagburn said.

Schwartz agreed that local officials better understand what the state can do for them.

“They don’t have an open checkbook,” he said. “But we do understand now that the state needs a heads-up early on. We learned the kind of information they need to have to make decisions. We didn’t know that before.”

The lesson enabled state officials to provide more effective help to Boise and Ada counties after last August’s range fire that charred some 15,000 acres in the foothills above the city.

Last February was the first time Disaster Services used a new response strategy that included sending personnel from the planning and preparedness section in Boise to help area field officers coordinate local, state and federal relief programs.

Agency employees, who usually are developing response plans, were sent to Orofino, Lapwai and St. Maries to back up the two field officers in implementing the plans.

“It proved so successful that we had a hard time getting them back in some cases,” Blagburn said. “The communities didn’t want to let them go.”

In June, the state began upgrading the old Emergency Broadcast System with digital technology to get messages out to the public via the broadcast media faster and easier.

And Disaster Services recognized the importance of area field coordinators having four-wheel-drive vehicles. The two in North Idaho did not, and Blagburn said that made it all but impossible to get into some of the flood-stricken areas. Four of the six coordinators now have four-wheel drives and the other two will soon.